HUNTER KILLER
by deetatarant
Summary: A Summer heat wave brings about a slaughter.......Pretty violent in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: fOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE 'PREDATOR' MOVIES AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T THE CREATURE IS NOT MY INVENTION....NOR ARE THE TW GANG... SHAME THAT REALLY 'CAUSE I'D BE A LOT RICHER IF THEY WERE.**

**THIS IS MY FIRST GO AT USING SOMEONE ELSE'S BAD GUY.... HEH I WAS BORED!**

**TO THE READERS OUT THERE WHO HAVE BEEN SO DEDICATED AND SUPPORTIVE THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND I KNOW HOW MUCH WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO MON 6TH JULY! **

**AS ALWAYS THIS IS ASSUMING A JACK/ IANTO RELATIONSHIP BUT MRS WILLIAMS WILL BE KICKING SOME ALIEN ARSE BECAUSE SHE CAN!**

**DEDICATED TO SOLSBURY GIRL, THE CONVERTOR, GALADRIEL 1010, MC PARROT AND .... WELL THERE'S LONG LIST REALLY. HAPPY WONDERFUL SUMMER EVERYONE AND HOPE THOSE OF YOU WITH EXAM RESULTS DO AS WELL AS I DID! **

**NOT A SPOOKY DOO!**

**OK..... HERE GOES.**

**HUNTER KILLER PART ONE.**

**Too hot to handle**

Ianto sighed. It was hot and it was only 6:15am. He rolled rather inelegantly off his bed and padded into the bathroom for a much needed shower. A hot sticky night mixed with bright lightening and rumbling thunder had made for yet another sleepless night and he was grumpy as Hell. The cool shower was a welcome break and he spent rather a long time just standing under the jet and letting the water caress over his heated flesh. Normally being hot and sticky involved Jack Harkness, but not today. With the weather acting up the way it was, the sewers had become unpalatable even for the hardiest of weevils and they'd been busy and Ianto had earned himself a half night off to sleep.... Fat chance of that!

Finally he stepped out of the shower cubical, a new one specially installed because Jack had paid copious amounts of money to have Ianto's bathroom re-fitted to his satisfaction... actually more to cater to his fetishes. Ianto wasn't complaining, the new walk in shower was fantastic with or without Jack to share it with him. Towel at his waist and making no effort to dry himself he walked back into the bedroom dripping on the floor boards. He pulled open the wardrobe door and perused his array of suits and his heart sank. He would roast in one of those, even the nice linen one that was really too camp, even for him. Jack would moan if he came into work in a T-shirt and his other colleagues probably wouldn't even recognise him. He ran his hands over the options on display and then closed the door and went to his chest of drawers. Stuff it!

He pulled out fresh underwear and socks and put them on thinking it was entirely too tempting to go 'eau naturel', but he knew that Owen would probably have heart failure if he did that..... and Jack..... well that didn't bare thinking about. He found a nice neat.... unused in fact.... short sleeved polo shirt, unfortunately it was lemon yellow. Who the hell had bought him that? Oh well. Ianto tugged it on and discovered that it was just short of being snug and showed up every contour of his torso. He contemplated whether or not this was a good thing as he went to the next draw and found a pair of knee length cargo pants that had definitely seen better days. The last time he had worn those was when he was in France with Lisa two years before. He'd lost weight since them and they only just about stayed up resting on his hips so he put on a belt as well, he needed one for his gun holster anyway. Ianto paused in front of the mirror, another of Jack's editions to his flat.... a very large mirror, fixed to wall facing his bed. Ianto blushed when he thought about it and shook his head. He straightened out his hair and decided that looked too formal with what he was wearing so he mussed it up again, surprised at how much younger that made him look. His own age a mere baby at 24, the eyes spoke of decades and Ianto hurriedly looked away again and bent down pulling his favourite running shoes out from under the bed.

Breakfast consisted of a glass filled with ice cubes topped with orange juice and a bowl of cereal topped with yogurt. He sat at his table going through a weeks worth of unopened post as he ate in silence. Once done he re-filled Moses' water bowl and topped up his crunchies, no doubt the lazy cat would saunter in and leave fur all over his bed spread again. He grabbed his phone, gun, wallet and keys and left the flat for the short walk to the Hub. It was a beautiful morning, even this early the sun was burning through the cloying haze of last nights storm. It promised to be yet another humid day.

Ianto's hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat before he got to work and he was eternally grateful when he stepped down into the cooler confines of their underground lair. He went straight to the kitchenette to brew coffee ready for the team's iced beverages. Ianto prided himself on being quite inventive with his coffee and the gang were lapping up his new frozen variety like it was the elixir of life. In their case it probably was. He worked in contented silence not even slightly put out when two strong arms snaked around his waist and hot breath tickled the skin at his throat.

"Wow, you look hot!" It was mumbled through lips that brushed at his skin and Ianto shivered and then decided that he was really too hot to be bothered.

"I am hot Jack." He tried not to sound as though he was complaining, but Jack's body radiating against his was like a furnace at his back. "You're hot as well." Ianto gently shoved him back and Jack stepped away and decided to admire the view of 'casual Ianto'.

"You know the others are going think you've swapped places with an evil twin or something."

Ianto rolled his eyes and went to the fridge. "Perhaps I'm the Mr Jekyl of the two, maybe other Ianto is the twisted evil one."

Jack fully appreciated the low slung pants and the strip of tempting naked flesh as Ianto's shirt rode up his back slightly when he bent down to retrieve the carton of milk. Ianto straightened up and turned to face Jack, who was wearing his never changing chino's and button down shirt with the braces. He even had a white T-shirt underneath.

"How can you not be hot?"

Jack shrugged. "Fifty fir........"

"Don't say it." Ianto interrupted in exasperation. "Here, have this and get out of my kitchen while I make breakfast."

Jack took his mug and drank down the iced coffee in rapid gulps, smacking his lips.

"You are a genius Ianto Jones." He handed the empty mug back.

"I know."

Jack however didn't move. "The others won't be in til later. I gave them the morning off."

"So you want breakfast?"

Jack smiled. "After."

Ianto hesitated for a moment processing Jack's reply. "After what?"

The smile widened somewhat.

_Oh God, now what, _rolled around Ianto's mind, silly really because he knew what was coming.

"I just wanted to check and make doubly sure it was my Ianto under those strange clothes, you never know, could be a shapeshifter or maybe even a clone or something."

Ianto nodded slowly. "And if it isn't your Ianto?"

Jack took a pace forwards. "Well I'd have to put you in the cells and give you a thorough going over."

"Uhmmmm I see."

"I guess I had better surrender now then." Ianto held up his hands as if Jack were pointing a gun at him. Another step was taken forwards.

"Better check you for weapons first."

Ianto submitted to the search, trying so hard not to enjoy it too much.


	2. Chapter 2

**HUNTER KILLER PART TWO**

Kathy Swanson had seen some pretty disgusting things in her career. Things that made one's gut churn in revulsion or made you so mad you just wanted to catch and kill the bastard responsible. She had learned the hard way to be dispassionate about the things she witnessed without losing her instincts or the 'feel' of a case. What she saw that morning however had left her standing at the edge of the crimescene with her jaw hanging open in shock. DS Waylin, who was stood beside her had turned and fled only to be heard retching outside. Kathy couldn't blame him, he was a seasoned man, 10 years older than her and the best DS she's ever had, who had turned down promotion in favour of remaining in Cardiff doing what he did best. Without ambition to get in his way Waylin was a bloody fine copper. Kathy stepped out of the room they had been called to and closed the door at her back. A young PC was hovering outside, looking incredibly pale.

"You alright Davidson?"

He nodded slightly jerkily. "Yeah, bit of a shock."

He'd been the one to discover the bodies after a reported break in, the burglar alarms were still clambering.

"You alright to stand guard?"

"Yes sir. That's not exactly the normal thing one expects to see on a Monday morning." He was nervy. Kathy smiled at him.

"No one but Soco's go in there, clear?"

"Yes sir."

She turned away and strode across the marble floored reception area and through the glass doors that lead out on to the quiet road.... too early for the morning rush. Sighing she pulled out her phone to call the station.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ianto hurried through his second shower of the day. Jack stuck his head round the glass partition, toothbrush in his mouth while he tried to speak, showering Ianto with toothpaste. Ianto gave him a long-suffering look and washed it off.

"Hey, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Jack just grinned until he realised the mess he was making and disappeared, re appearing a moment later with a minty white smile.

"You want me to put some coffee on?"

Ianto turned off the water and Jack passed him a towel.

"Don't you dare, leave the coffee to me, brunch is in the fridge sort that out instead."

Jack stuck his tongue out before exiting the tiny bathroom. It was at this precise moment that Ianto suddenly realised why Jack had lavished almost £4000 on the bathroom back at his flat, you couldn't swing a cat in this one!

Ten minutes later and the coffee was brewing and Gwen was just stepping in through the roller door her hair tied up under a wide sun hat, sunglasses hanging loosely in her grip. She did a double take when she saw Ianto in shorts and a lemon T-shirt and then paused at her desk to get a really good look at him, taking in the line of muscular calves and the pale colour of his usually well covered skin. The view really wasn't half bad. She suddenly realised that Jack was watching her watch Ianto and a blush crept up her cheeks and she squeeled.

"I'm only looking."

Jack grinned from his place at Tosh's terminal and Ianto was looking perplexed, being completely oblivious. The cog door rolled back and Tosh bustled in fanning her face with a folded magazine.

"It's roasting out there and it's not even 10 o clock yet."

Ianto handed out iced tea to her and Gwen and coffee to Jack and the three of them made various noises of contentment as they sipped on their drinks. Ianto smiled to himself. He noticed Tosh's eyes widen at the sight of him and rolled his eyes, anyone would think they had never seen him out of a suit before.

"Yes Tosh, these are my legs, pasty things that they are." He commented. Tosh almost spat out a mouthful of tea.

"Brunch is set up in the boardroom and the reports for the weekly meeting are there as well." Ianto advised them before heading back to the kitchenette to get his own cold drink..... a chocolate special.... well he deserved the treat!

It took all of fifteen minutes to go through the weekly reports, mostly weevil related and Jack needing to sign off on Owen's medical requisitions. Owen was bored and fed up with the heat, much preferring to be freezing his balls off than dealing with smelling and needing three showers a day. He had autopsies to do which would be lovely because whilst the HUB was cool in the mornings by late evening it was like a sauna. It smelt as well and he complained about it rather loudly. No one could disagree with him either.

"I'll get some more air freshener then shall I?"

Ianto suggested.

Gwen and Tosh both nodded.

"Personally I think we should move that dinosaur nest, I bet that's where the pong is coming from." Owen suggested.

Ianto sighed, he knew what was coming next.

"It's your dinosaur Ianto you sort it out."

Ianto faced him with a blank look. "Maybe she could stay at yours for the week."

The team dispersed. Tosh had some refinements she wanted to make to the Rift predictor program, Owen went to his corpse, Gwen and Jack went to their respective desks and Ianto retreated up to the tourist office, deciding he had definitely got the better deal. He felt slightly underdressed in his casual attire as he unlocked the front door and propped it open. Jack would moan like hell, but it was bloody hot. He busied himself arranging leaflets and postcards and was quickly interrupted by a group of students who had come down from the university in town. The all chatted about the weather, the rugby and did Ianto want to come out on a hot date with Michelle. Naturally Ianto declined expressing his disappointment at having to turn her down, she gave him her phone number anyway before they all piled out into the scorching sunshine. It was shaping up to be a good paperwork catch up day. At 1:30pm he closed the shop and after a little bit of cleaning he came down into bowels of the Hub. Owen was swearing down in his lair, Tosh and Gwen were sat on the sofa discussing bridal gowns, by the looks of the magazines spread over their laps. A quick glance upwards told him that Jack was deep in conversation on the phone. Ok so it was time for coffee then while things were still nice and quiet. Somehow the moment Jack stepped out from his office, Ianto knew he had jinxed the day.

"Gwen, Ianto with me. The plod need our assistance."

Gwen rolled her eyes and stood up, thanking God she'd had the sense to put on loose fitting jeans and trainers.... looking cool rarely felt cool in this weather. Ianto watched in abject horror as Jack donned his great coat.

"Are you insane?"

"Gotta look cool Ianto!"

Ianto and Gwen exchanged exasperated smiles as they left the Hub with a wave from Tosh.

"Enjoy the sun you lucky......."

Ianto just knew that the last word in that sentence ended with a D. Ianto got to the steering wheel before Jack, much to Gwen's relief so Jack had to settle for riding shot gun, which was no fun at all when Ianto was driving. Ianto keyed the ignition.

"So where are we going?"

Jack shot him a sour look. "Now if you'd let me drive we'd half way there already. The new office block on Snowdon Road."

Ianto smiled. "Do you know how many speeding notices this vehicle picked up last quarter?"

Jack sighed, he'd forgotten that Ianto had been working on the financial reports. Gwen leant forward.

"How many Ianto?"

"Forty Three and I painstakingly tallied them against the mission logs and discovered that a certain Captain is responsible for 38 of them."

Gwen sniggered at Ianto's school-teacherish tone. "What about the other five?"

"Owen, of course."

Jack chose to stare out of his window, but there was a smile on his face all the same.

"What he neglects to mention is that he got a speeding ticket only last week driving his own car!" He revealed in a half whisper. Gwen's eyes went saucer like.

"Mr Ianto Jones, I didn't know you had it in you."

"It was an emergency, my sister's dog had to go to the vets."

Gwen was curious now, Ianto spoke so rarely about his family. Jack wound down the window to get some breeze.

"What did it do?"

Jack was laughing now, he'd been there.

"He ate something he shouldn't." Ianto mumbled as he stopped at a red light. Gwen was fascinated by this point.

"What did he eat?" She turned to Jack, he obviously knew. Ianto was going red and not from the heat. "Come on spill, did you feed him something bad Jack?"

"Hey, why me?" The faux innocence didn't fool Gwen for a moment.

"Edward is a Spaniel and he's kinda nosy. So when we went to visit Ianto's sister he put his overnight bag in his room and forgot to close the door. Edward decided he'd like to try some lube and condoms for size and when he had no luck getting it off, he ate them. We only realised because his breath smelt like strawberries. So instead of being at his neice's birthday party as planned, he was at the vets."

"650 quid that cost me!"

Gwen was laughing and Ianto just looked like he wanted to bury himself. After much discussion about what dogs do best they arrived, pulling up in the midst of a gaggle of police and emergency vehicles after being directed into the road by a traffic cop. All three Torchwood officers went straight into business mode as Kathy Swanson approached the SUV in white protective overalls, looking decidedly grim faced. Ianto went straight to the boot of the SUV and got his forensic took kit and camera, Gwen and Jack were talking to Kathy by the time he got back to them.

Kathy took a step back from the Torchwood team and gestured at the glass fronted building, it was with great reluctance that she had called Jack in the first place, but her medical examiner had been adamant.

"It's a mess in there, but nothing has been touched. You'll need suits and masks."

Ianto went back to the SUV to get their own protective overalls half wondering what it was they were going to find. The three of them donned paper suits and socks over their shoes, Jack putting his beloved coat back into the SUV. When they were ready Kathy led them into the building.

"If you don't mind. I'd really rather not have to go back in there. It's through that door."

Even through their masks the smell was apparent almost immediately. Ianto blanched recognising it straight away. Death; that was the only word for it. Somewhat reluctantly he followed Gwen and Jack into the room. The stench was overwhelming. Gwen had stopped at the entrance, but Jack edged into the space careful of where he was placing his feet. Ianto was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted him and he froze to the spot, the word Brynblaidd hanging on his lips.

"Oh my God." Was what came out.

Jack swung round and looked at him, his face unreadable. "I doubt God had much to do with this."


	3. Chapter 3

**HUNTER KILLER PART THREE**

Jack turned back to face the room and heard Ianto opening up his tool kit. It was a modern high ceilinged room with exposed RSJs arching over their heads in some rather poor imitation of the roof at Kings Cross Station. There were two rows of desks arrayed with some fairly hi tech computers and the far end of the room was dominated by expansive glass panels that looked over the arse end of the warehouse district and Barry Docks. The highly polished wooden floor was coated with slick layers of partially dried blood, above, in the phoney rafters hung 6 bodies, human once, now just skinned meat. Jack swallowed as he stared at them with morbid fascination suddenly aware of the humming of hundreds of flies. He hurriedly looked away, clean up was going to be a real bitch. Exposed reproduction Victorian brick walls were spattered with sprays of blood from ceiling to floor. He caught sight of Ianto gingerly stepping round the gore and taking photographs on his digital camera. Jack almost jumped when he felt Gwen's presence at his side, she had obviously composed herself and Jack couldn't help but feel pride for both of his staff, getting on with the task at hand.

"Jack you don't thinks it's another group of cannibals do you?" She had finally voiced what he himself had been wondering and judging from the glance Ianto had thrown in their direction, he was thinking the same as well.

"Not sure. I don't think so though. If they were gonna eat them, surely they would have taken the bodies?"

Gwen nodded. "Kathy said the burglar alarms had been tripped at about 2am, PC Andy got here at 4:30am about ten minutes after someone called it in, he found this."

Jack nodded. "Ok can you track down the CCTV for last night and find out from the security firm why the alarm wasn't dealt with immediately."

"Will do." Gwen was quietly thankful. It meant getting out of the room.

Jack turned his attention to the scene, taking note of the virtually undisturbed desks, he was interrupted by Ianto calling him.

"Jack, take a look at this." Ianto was holding something small in his gloved hand and inspecting it.

Jack wandered over carefully stepping over the mess. "What is it?"

Ianto held out his hand. "Some one got off at least 50 rounds, these are armour piercing bullets, the gun is over there under the couch, some of the bullets have gone into the wall and some up there." He pointed higher up. "Looks like they were shooting at something fast moving and pretty agile. The scans I've done so far indicate only human remains, but I'll take a load of samples for Owen to analyse anyway." His camera hanging about his neck Ianto handed Jack his PDA. He inadvertently glanced over Jack's shoulder and noticed the desks. Jack studied the readings, nothing unusual was indicated.

"I'll start doing the samples from the other side, you start this side. I want every inch of this space photographed."

Ianto nodded, knowing full well that it would be a whole lot better if Tosh and Owen were there to help them. He could understand fully why Jack didn't want to call them in though.

The next three hours were spent painstakingly going over the space. Gwen rejoined them an hour in and by late afternoon with the temperature up to 31clecius the smell was beyond being bearable. Jack was about to call a halt to the proceedings when once again Ianto called for his attention. Jack hadn't noticed that the younger man had found a ladder. Right now he was pulling slugs from the wall.

Jack stood there looking up as Ianto descended. He held up an evidence back and Jack looked at what appeared to be a spearhead.

"It was almost completely embedded and doesn't weigh much either." Ianto passed him the bag. "I've not seen anything like that before, the metal looks odd."

Jack inspected it as Ianto placed his tools back in the case and pulled out a half dozen evidence bags from the pocket of his overalls.

"I've photographed the whole scene and filmed it as well so Owen can get a good look."

"You get everything?"

Ianto nodded. Jack handed him back the bag with the weaponhead in it.

"Gwen, you done?"

She nodded adding a collection of samples of her own to the crate full at Ianto's feet. "Yes, definitely."

"Ok, we'll get these bodies down and bagged and then I'll get Tosh to bring the van over to collect all this crap."

Ianto and Gwen exchanged unhappy looks, neither of them wanted to go near the fly infested bodies. Ianto turned away and got his step ladder and set it in position, he'd already been up there to photograph the hanging corpses. He decided not to subject Gwen to the ordeal.

"We'll need rope to lower them down."

Gwen was thankful once again for the out and Jack too quietly thanked Ianto for his consideration as Gwen left to get the rope from the SUV.

The grisly task of getting the bodies down took well over an hour.

For the entire day the police hung about outside entirely grateful for once that Torchwood had done the forensic analysis. Kathy Swanson had nothing but reluctant admiration for the team of the team of three that had worked steadily throughout the day in that chamber of horrors. At 9:30pm a black van arrived and one of the uniformed guys helped a Japanese woman load up the half dozen body bags.

Jack, Gwen and the quiet Welshman whose name Kathy didn't know, peeled themselves out of the suits, all three looking the worst for wear. She turned to Captain Harkness who surprisingly subdued.

"Well?"

"If it looks like it's not our problem I'll let you know, but we'll take everything back with us for now. I'm curious as to why we were called in the first place." He said running his hand through sweat soaked hair. He looked tired.

Kathy nodded, the man had every right to be tired.

"My medical examiner and I made the choice between us, this isn't exactly the norm, gut feeling I suppose. Any guesses as to what happened in there?"

Jack shrugged. "We'll keep you posted. I have a nasty feeling that there is going to be more and you were right to trust your instincts."

"Great. What do you want us to tell the press?"

"I don't much care. As soon as we've identified the victims... if we can identify them, you can take it from there, for now, no comment. Don't tell them anything."

Kathy grasped his arm as he turned to leave. "If you think there's going to be more, keep us in the loop yeah? We may be able to help prevent that."

Jack nodded knowing full well that the police would not be slightest help.

It was midnight before the van had been unloaded of crates and bodies. All the corpses were moved to the morgue and Owen and Tosh began going through the CCTV and Ianto's photos and footage. Gwen Jack and Ianto got themselves cleaned up and Jack sent Gwen and Ianto home to get some rest. Ianto settled for crashing on Jack's bunk, knowing full well he'd never be able to sleep anyway, having scrubbed himself raw the smell of rotting meat was still clinging to his nostrils.

Owen made the decision to autopsy the bodies in a sealed cell, to which everyone was extremely thankful, even if it did mean Ianto helping get a lot of equipment down there to do it. Afterwards Ianto set about getting breakfast for the team so they could eat a decent meal whilst in conference.

It was another achingly hot day and Gwen came into the Hub at 7:30 am having hardly slept a wink. Tosh who hadn't gone home at all was working at her terminal subjecting the 'spear head' to various tests and scans. The two women exchanged muted hellos just as Ianto announced that breakfast was ready in the boardroom. Ianto had downgraded from casual to sloppy as he appeared from the kitchen area in saggy track pants and one of Jack's T-shirts carrying a tray of drinks.

The five of them were gathered around the table a somewhat muted conversation about the unusually humid weather and what it had done to Ianto's dress sense. Ianto didn't mind, at least the team were smiling and Jack was giving him a very close 'I'm undressing you' look as he was eating. Ianto actually blushed and dipped his chin a bit, it was amazing how vulnerable he felt without his suit to hide behind. Jack just smiled at him. Eventually the breakfast things were cleared away, everyone chipping in to help and then the catch-up conference began just as the Rift alert alarms went off.


	4. Chapter 4

**HUNTER KILLER PART FOUR**

Gwen trawled her way through the crates of evidence that had been gathered at the crime scene, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that Jack had taken Ianto out in the field to deal with the Weevil alert. He'd been doing that a lot lately. It wasn't that she begrudged Ianto the experience; it was just that Jack always used to take her. That had radically changed since his return from his travels with the Doctor, the whole dynamic of their relationship had altered since she announced her engagement to Rhys.

She sorted through the bagged items and found the bags containing wallets and purses that had been left scattered about the bloodied office, she'd start with those see if Owen could confirm with her the IDs on the bodies. She was grateful that she wasn't having to deal with the autopsies and appreciated that Owen had decided to carry them out away from the main area of the Hub.

Her thoughts drifted back to Jack. 'Don't let it drift', he'd been adamant about that and yet she had found herself in Owen's bed whilst falling for Jack, how could she have been so stupid? It was clear that Jack loved her, but not in the way that she hoped he would, the Captains affections obviously lay elsewhere. It confused her no end. Ianto himself was a puzzle, the betrayals between the younger man and Jack went deep and somehow both of them had learnt to move on. They were so opposite to one another and she half wondered how Ianto put up with Jack's incessant flirting..... maybe he was just taking all he could get from the Captain he was undoubtedly infatuated with.

_Focus Gwen... work to do._ She chided herself.

She had Rhys, probably the most caring and supportive man she would ever know. Jack was just too..... dangerous to love and she fully expected Ianto to get hurt sooner rather than later. She wondered how that particular break up would impact on the team, Ianto had a serious and vindictive mean streak under those immaculate suits. Jack would be on Decaf for the rest of Ianto's life! She chuckled at the thought. Gwen had a huge soft spot for her fellow countryman. When she considered everything that he had suffered he was in fact a very calm and well balanced individual and his sense of humour was certainly unique. He spent his working life caring for his colleagues and she remembered thinking months before that he was just trying to make up for the whole Lisa thing, but now she realised he did care about them all, passionately. He saw them as family, she's over heard him tell Jack on a number of occasions. Was there anyone on the outside for him? Gwen seriously doubted it, like Owen and Tosh, Torchwood was Ianto's world he just had the added bonus of being the boss'...... Gwen wondered, they almost never showed any affection toward one another in public, but she'd seen the CCTV footage that Tosh had collated. Stolen moments of private conversations, touches, hugs and the occasional kiss; apparently there were more rather intimate ones too. Gwen was pretty sure she didn't want to watch them shagging though. She thought back to the incident with the Space Whale a few weeks before. Jack hadn't flinched when Ianto had been held at gun point and shot at, but Owen later told her that after she had stormed out that evening Jack had sat on the couch holding Ianto in a death grip for almost two hours. It had been a barb on Owen's part of course. He was still angry with her over the whole refusal to Retcon Rhys. Gwen realised that that evening had not been her moment of glory, she'd really pissed everyone off and hurt Jack's feelings that day. The crazy thing was Rhys just increased his support of her and finally understood what her life was about.... no more lies, that had to be a good thing for them. It was.

Gwen looked down at the personal possessions in her hands, she realised just how lucky she was.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ianto knelt down beside the messy husk of a weevil corpse. The exposed, cauterised chest cavity was still smoking and he glanced about feeling distinctly uneasy as he touched the blue tooth in his ear.

"Jack, you better come and see this."

"You found it?"

"Yep." His gaze went up to the roof tops that lined the alley way at the back of the Electro Cinema and he shivered. Straightening himself up he took a thorough look around him just as Jack came running into the alley from Anglesey Terrace. He practically skidded to a stop on seeing Ianto and he slowed down, his approach cautious.

"Ianto?"

Ianto faced him with a concerned look. "It's clear Jack, whatever it was is gone. Take a look." He gestured to the remains at his feet. Holstering his gun Jack came over and took a look.

"What the hell happened?"

Ianto was still gazing about. "I've no idea. I heard it cry out and when I got here a few seconds later I found this. Whatever did that it could only have happened 5-10 seconds before I arrived. I didn't see what it was but I'm sure I heard something."

"I've never seen an injury like this before." Jack commented.

"Me either, it's completely cauterised."

"Some kind of laser maybe, we'll take it back for Owen to check over."

Ianto hitched a smile. "He'll love that!"

Jack stood up. "You ok?"

Ianto was still watching their surroundings. "I keep thinking about what we saw in Brecon. I know this is not the same, but yesterday I felt like I was being watched. I put it down t being spooked by what we were dealing with.... but... I'm feeling it now."

Jack briefly grasped his hand and squeezed it. He had learnt to trust Ianto's intuition over recent months and he took a good look around. There was nothing, just a row of wheelie bins and a sheet of rusted corrugated metal, leaning against the brick wall of the back of a building next to a fire escape, the smell of heat, piss and rubbish in his nostrils.

"There's no birdsong." Ianto commented.

Jack arched his eyebrows. "Round here, that's hardly surprising."

"There's usually pigeons though at the very least."

Jack had to agree. He sighed the SUV was three streets away. "Why don't you get the SUV, I'll wait here." Jack didn't want to leave Ianto to guard the corpse, he was obviously spooked enough as it was.

Ianto nodded. "Ok, be careful Jack." He headed off at a jog, thankful for his choice of attire as he broke into sweat almost immediately.

Jack watched him depart then went back to scanning his surroundings, pulling out his PDA to check for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing.

Owen only managed a few choice swear words when Jack and Ianto returned with another stiff for him to examine. It was late into the day so Ianto went home to shower and change and collect a couple sets of spare clothing and on the way back to the HUB he went to M&S and did a lot of food and drinks shopping for the team. By the time he got to the Hub his colleagues were gathered in the boardroom eagerly awaiting his return with the supplies.

They ate quickly and then Jack and Gwen cleared the table whilst Ianto made coffee.

Tosh got the meeting under way.

"The readings you took at the crime scene and where you found the weevil, were all in the norm, so whatever it is I don't think it is Rift related." There were sighs of relief all round until Tosh held up the bagged spear head. "This however, is non terrestrial. I did an analysis on the metal and found no matches, nothing even close. There are some inscriptions on it......" She brought up an image on the plasma screen on the wall. "Again no matches on our database, they look like pictograms, but there's no way to be sure."

Ianto was looking at the picture intently. "They are hieroglyphs I've seen those before, back in London."

Everyone was looking at him and Ianto felt vaguely uncomfortable.

"I checked through the Canary Wharf database." Tosh said a little indignantly.

Ianto nodded. "I'm sure you did, but it is by no means complete I'm still assembling it from what was salvaged at the time, I'm only about half way through."

"Only?" Jack demanded.

Ianto threw him a look of exasperation. "Jack there are literally thousands of items and well over a hundred thousand files and most of those are hardcopies."

"Do you think you could find the reference?"

Ianto nodded. "I know exactly where it is. I'll go and find it." He got up feeling somewhat annoyed as he left the boardroom, with four pairs of eyes on his back.

"Ooops, me thinks Tea Boy is peeved." Owen was grinning.

Tosh was glaring at Jack. "May I ask a question Jack?"

Jack gave her a level look. "You may not get an answer."

"Ianto, he wasn't a junior researcher was he?"

Suddenly they were all looking at Jack. "No, he wasn't."

Owen was curious now. "Well?"

Jack sighed not really wanting to discuss Ianto's past but knowing he had to. "He was recruited straight of Cambridge. Yvonne's cronies discovered he had perfect photographic recall. They used him in the secure archives as a translator because he could pretty much remember anything he was visually exposed to. Coupled with his naturally analytical mind......"

"You mean like Mr Data on Star Trek?"

All eyes then fell on Gwen, who blushed. "I'm only saying."

"The point is Ianto lied to us to protect himself from being experimented on. Yvonne had him shut in the labs on a regular basis, he was also used on a couple of covert operations to study plans and documents."

"Jack it is a useful talent, we should put it to good use." Tosh declared.

"No." Jack glared at her. "I said he remembers everything Tosh and I mean everything. The recall isn't selective, he can't shut it off when he chooses. Trust me I've heard extremely graphic accounts of what happened with the Cybermen, how his Father died, what those monsters did to him at Brynnblaid. He will not be used in such a manner, is that clear?"

The ice in Jack's tone brought everyone to an uncomfortable silence. Owen immediately understood the nature of Ianto's continual nightmares that he had refused treatment for.

"None of it is on his medical records Jack, it would've been helpful to know. When did you find out?"

Jack shot him a wounded look, it was something he really didn't want to talk about. He sighed, he knew the others deserved some answers.

"When I disappeared.... I told you about that year that didn't happen for you guys..... You went off to Nepal leaving Ianto here to man the Hub. He remembers that year, told me how he died and I know he was telling the truth because it was me that killed him. I think his proximity to the Rift is what enabled him to experience the paradox. Either way, that's when I found out. Now if you don't mind I'd really rather not discuss any of it further. Tosh can we move on please?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course. This weapon head, as I said I couldn't identify the metal. It's tough, and cuts through just about anything like it was paper. I tried it on stone and metal... no problem. It absorbs heat and retains it's shape, I bashed it and hammered it, not a single dent. It's really quite amazing......."

Ianto stepped back into the room, immediately recognizing that there had been a change in the atmosphere. In one hand held a metal object in the other a manila folder. He leaned over Tosh's shoulder and placed the file in front of Jack.

Gwen was the first to speak up. "What is that?"

Ianto smiled and stepped round the table to stand in front of the plasma tv giving himself a metre of space from the end of the table. He held out the metal baton like object and depressed two raised notches with his thumb. From each end two points slid silently out and unfolded revealing lethal looking claw shaped, glistening blades. Once fully extended, it rather resembled a pike staff with two bladed ends instead of one. Ianto carefully twirled it with some degree of skill before lying with a gentle clang on to the table.

"Don't touch the blades." He advised as Jack's hand strayed forwards.

"Wow, where'd this come from?"

"Database number, antarc 3556619/a8. It was found in Antarctica, by an expedition team.... the details are sketchy because most of the files were censored before I got to them. My understanding is that a lone survivor of a team of explorers brought this back and Torchwood One intercepted it. You'll find the same symbols Tosh and it's most likely made of the same metal. No one knows where it is from."

Ianto resumed his seat next to Jack. "How heavy is it?" Jack asked expecting it to be quite weighty.

"2point 6 kilos."

"No way." Owen was completely taken aback.

Jack cautiously lifted it and tested the feel before putting it back down, he was more of a gun man himself but he appreciated the beauty of the weapon non the less.

Tosh was clearly fascinated. "So this, or something remarkably similar is the killing weapon used on those people?"

Owen nodded. "I'd be inclined to agree, the bodies in the morgue would confirm that."

"Explain."

Owen pushed a series of reports over to Jack. "The six victims were all human, two females and four men. One of the women was 7 months pregnant. They were slashed with a very fine bladed weapon. All of them had their sternums opened up with a precise tool, same goes for the weevil. Skinning took place post mortem. The injuries were ..... well from what I can tell whatever did this wasn't offered up much resistance, because only one of the victims had defensive like injuries, the left arm being cleanly cut off just below the elbow, and the CCTV footage will confirm that if nothing else."

"What about that?"

Gwen and Tosh both winced.

"That's the weird part." Gwen took the remote from Tosh. "Hold on to your lunches, this isn't nice."...............


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Yep I know it's been a while, but sometimes you just have to wait until the muse hits you...very hard in this case!**

**HUNTER KILLER PART FIVE**

The team sat in stunned silence as the CCTV footage played and when Tosh pressed the stop button, they were literally speechless. It was Ianto who spoke up first, wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

"There was nothing there, what the hell did that?"

Jack was shaking his head. "The only thing I can think of is that whatever did it was wearing some form of chameleonic armour or maybe a defractor shield."

"In English Harkness." Owen was getting irritable.

"He means a cloaking device of some kind. There was some distortion which I thought was poor quality footage, but I shall run it through some software and see if I can find anything that we are clearly not seeing with our eyes." Tosh flicked back a strand of hair as she tapped at the keypad in front of her. "It may take some time, sorry."

"Ok, Ianto is there anything else in the archive related to this?"

"Only what you see here, but I shall run a more detailed keyword search and see if anything comes up." He got to his feet. "I need to work on some cover stories for the deaths Jack, I take it the police are keeping the press out of this?"

Gwen was nodding. "Yes, I spoke to Swanson, there's been a complete blackout as far as the news is concerned, but she re-emphasised that she wanted to be kept in the loop."

Ianto nodded. "Do you want me to handle it?"

Jack smiled up at him. "Sort the cover story, Gwen advise the police what we are going to do and get the details off Ianto when he's done."

"Right, will do."

The meeting broke up and Ianto left the boardroom to get a drink of water, the afternoon heat was beginning to filter down into the Hub. Myfanwy cawed over head and glided about the rafters, her great wings having little effect on the quality of the air as she flapped them. Ianto watched as she soared down and settled herself on the upper gantry and tucked her leathery wings into her sides and rested her whole body down on the cool metal of the walkway. Ianto smiled and decided she was probably too hot as well. He made a sudden decision and went up to the green house to get one of the pump sprays, he filled it with water and wandered over to where the dinosaur lay. He pointed the nozzle of the spray up in to the air and pressed the release. Myfanwy squawked and lifted her head and stretched her neck into the falling water drops and Ianto was startled to hear what sounded like a deep rumbling purr. He chuckled and soaked her some more. Unbeknown to him the rest of the team had come out of the boardroom and were watching with huge smiles on their faces. Tosh went to her desk and grabbed her little camera and took a photo, Jack snapped one with his mobile phone, delighted to see such a contented smile on Ianto's sun kissed face.

The day progressed quietly, with each team member getting on with their task. With Myfanwy suitably cooled down Ianto went around with a drinks tray and then back to his computer in the tourist office to get on with his work.

Jack was in the board room studying the strange lightweight weapon that Ianto had brought up from the archive. There was little to no useful information in the file that had come with it and Jack suspected that it had come into Torchwood One hands under very dubious circumstances... nothing new there. He hefted the weapon from one hand to the other, it was really was quite a remarkable thing and weighed far less than it should. He swung it about, testing the feel and completely underestimated its cutting power as it sliced through the back of one of the chairs with a gentle thunk... Ianto would not be pleased. Jack immediately put it back down and went to his office. He was disturbed a couple of hours later when Ianto popped his head through the door.

"I'm about to go and get dinner, what did you want?"

Jack looked up from his paperwork and took a glance at his watch. "Jeez, that time already?"

Ianto nodded. "Yep."

"Right. Look I shall send the others home, it's our turn for the graveyard shift anyway."

"Ok, Chinese?"

Jack smiled. "Sounds good."

"I'll be back in twenty minutes then."

Jack nodded as Ianto turned away and wondered why he wasn't ordering the take out.

Gwen was very pleased to be going home the air in the Hub had become stifling and vaguely smelly and she was delighted to get out and have an evening at home with Rhys. Though there was part of her that quietly regretted the decision she made not to Retcon the man she was going to marry. Ever since Jack had returned from his time away she had hoped, somewhat childishly she realised, that Jack would sweep her off her feet and ride off with her into the sunset. It was a nice fantasy, becoming more far reaching when Owen had told her that Jack had been 'shagging' Ianto since before the whole nonsense with Lisa. Jack, of course, had been shagging a lot of people, she had argued back. Owen put her straight, not since 'Tea Boy' apparently. Gwen didn't believe it, didn't want to believe it anyway. It was clear to her that Jack wanted her, he was certainly not showing any overt sign of being interested in Ianto, so it was likely Owen was making it all up. Gwen fingered her engagement ring. It had cost Rhys a small fortune and it was a lovely ring, just typical of Rhys, trying to be all romantic. It made her smile for a brief moment. Jack would never do romance, would never leave Torchwood, would never just grow old and die.

"Oh shit." She mumbled to herself. She knew she would ask and expect too much of him and maybe Ianto wouldn't. It was always the quiet ones. She paused fumbling around in her bag for her mobile phone. She dialled Jack's number.

"Hey Gwen, what's up?"

She stopped on the pavement and sighed. "Nothing, I just wondered if you wanted some company at the Hub?"

There was a long pause and what sounded like Jack talking to someone else with his hand over the receiver.

"No Gwen, go home. Ianto's here we've got things under control, get some rest have a nice night in with Rhys, tomorrow's gonna be a busy day."

Gwen swallowed. "Right, ok. Say good night to Ianto for me."

"I will, good night Gwen."

"Night Jack." She hung up feeling rather stupid.

Rhys would be home with a salad and freshly made pizza waiting for her. Gwen stuffed her mobile into her bag and marched home feeling thoroughly pissed off with herself.

The thunderstorm broke at 2am with a spectacular display of forked lightening that actually made Ianto jump as the thunder broke in the sky right above his head. He involuntarily cowered down for the briefest of moments and then cursed when the deluge of warm rain began to pelt down like a monsoon. He was soaked within seconds and Jack who was stood beside him merely tipped his face upwards and spent a moment enjoying the water that washed down over his face. Ianto froze and watched his lover under the light of an orange streetlamp and smiled at the look of bliss on Jack's face. It was short lived as the rain suddenly stopped and the thunder cracked over their heads, with brilliant light splitting the night. The humidity seemed to increase tenfold and despite being wet Ianto could feel himself sweating. He had never known weather like it.

"Jack you don't suppose all this heat has something to do with the Mara, do you?"

Jack shrugged as they returned to their gruesome task of bagging up another weevil with its chest ripped open.

"I don't think so. It doesn't seem like their style, they prefer the wind and that is one thing we don't have, anyway there hasn't been a rose petal in sight and they would have no reason to do this to the weevils. No I think we are dealing with something far more aggressive, though perhaps less intelligent."

Between them they manouvered the corpse into the body bag. "What makes you say that?"

"Dunno. Most creatures kill for food, whatever did this and killed those people was clearly not interested in eating them."

Ianto wasn't certain he liked that. "You think it kills for sport?"

"Maybe. I just wish we had a means to track it."

"Hopefully Tosh's software will find something on the CCTV footage, the program was almost finished when we left the Hub."

They hoisted the body into the back of the SUV and Ianto stepped back wiping his face down with his hand.

"God I must stink."

Jack slammed down the tailgate and stepped up beside him and promptly licked his cheek. Ianto grimaced.

"Ugh... Jack!"

"Tastes pretty good actually. Maybe we should head back so I can lick the rest of you."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "You have to be kidding me?"

Jack shook his head. "You people always hiding yourselves behind perfumes and sprays... you have no idea how beautiful you actually smell naturally."

Ianto wasn't convinced.

They got into the SUV, Ianto making certain he got to the driver's side before Jack did. He keyed the ignition.

"What do I taste like then?" He asked, not entirely certain he wanted know.

Jack just grinned at him. "Salt, honey, something slightly bitter which is probably coffee, it's quite a heady mixture actually."

Ianto could feel himself blush under Jack's gaze but kept he eyes forwards as the rain began lash down again. Lightening flickered and the cracking of overhead thunder could be heard over the sound of the engine and Jack's laughter.

The remains of the weevil was taken straight down to the morgue and put in cold storage for Owen to examine in the morning. Ianto filled out the paperwork and Jack wandered off to get out of his wet clothes. He returned sometime later in a T-shirt and boxers and waved a dry set of under clothes at Ianto.

"Come on I don't want you getting sick, out of those wet things."

Ianto merely arched an eyebrow. "I'm going for a shower first." He really wanted to just cool himself off. Jack's grin widened considerably. "Mind if I join you?"

"Well you did mention something about licking the rest of me...I suppose you'd better finish off what you started."

"I like the way you think, Jones Ianto Jones."

Ianto finished what he was doing somewhat hurriedly. "It was your idea."

"Uhm... so it was."

The shower, while being a great source of entertainment, had achieved nothing in terms of cooling him down and Ianto tossed and turned on Jack's bunk and finally launched himself up at 5am cursing the loss sleep and the lack of fresh clothes. He ended borrowing one of Jack's T-shirts and a pair of chinos, which were only held up by virtue of the belt. Ianto had even gone so far as to roll up the legs and he cursed further when he checked the thermometer in the autopsy bay. The Hub was 22 degrees Celsius already. Ianto sighed and went to the fridge to discover that there was no milk and no Jack. He found the note stuck to the door of the fridge before he opened it.

'Gone shopping' in Jack's elegant scrawl. Ianto almost slapped his forehead with his hand, wondering what havoc Jack would reek in Tesco on the early shift. He sympathised with them and headed toward Tosh's terminal. Her filter program had completed its cycle through the CCTV footage.


	6. Chapter 6

**PART SIX**

8am saw the whole team congregated in the boardroom once again. Ianto had made mugs of iced tea for Gwen and Tosh and Jack had insisted on coffee flavoured milkshake. Ianto was somewhat disconcerted by the fact that both of his female colleagues were staring at him and exchanging smiles. Ianto wondered if he had shaving foam stuck on his chin or something but didn't ask, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself. Jack was staring at him with something bordering on affection in his eyes and Ianto found himself sighing as he sat down. He was tired and a little irritable. No sooner had his bumb hit the seat than his mobile began to ring. He had to stand up to wrestle it out of the pocket of Jack's borrowed trousers and to his consternation the others were all watching him as he answered the call.

"Ianto Jones speaking."

He instantly recognised DCI Swanson's sombre tones.

"Hang on a moment..." Ianto proffered the Nokia. "Jack, its Detective Swanson, for you. Sounds like more bodies." He passed the phone to Jack and sat back down aware that Gwen was still eying him up and he had no idea why.

The team waited for Jack to finish the call.

"You were quite right Ianto, more bodies." He said with a sigh. "Ok, Gwen, Ianto take some kit and check out the scene."

They both stood up.

"And take your weapons." Jack added giving Ianto a pointed look that said 'watch yourselves'. Ianto nodded and he followed Gwen out of the door.

"Alright Tosh, what have you got for us?"

Tosh immediately brought up a display on the plasma screen mounted on the wall. A scene from the incident was brought into view.

"The CCTV footage tells me very little, other than the fact that whatever creature was in that room was definitely cloaked. It was extremely fast moving and very agile judging from the way the man was firing his weapon. I ran it frame by frame and this is what the computer came up with." A hazy image of something vaguely humanoid was revealed. "Sorry it is the best I could do, the alien's camouflage is second to none. It's approximately seven feet tall, the shielding seems to be lowered or powered down for a micro second every time the weapon it is carrying is fired. There's no way of knowing what exactly the weapon is other than it is some kind of high intensity energy weapon that packs a hell of a lot of heat."

Owen was looking intently at the image. "That would concur with autopsy findings, the wounds on the bodies were completely cauterised. It's a bit like a much more powerful version of our little laser scalpel."

Tosh nodded her agreement. "I ran that additional intel along with Ianto's added search parameters through the database and came up blank."

"So we know nothing new then?"

"Sorry Jack."

"It's not your fault Tosh, is there any way of determining when it got here?"

Tosh shrugged. "There were no significant Rift spikes the days before the first reported attack. We need to find a way of tracking it Jack."

"Any suggestions?"

"Other than foot patrolling through Cardiff with our handheld sensors?"

Jack and Owen both sighed. "Owen anything to add?"

"Not really, the autopsies are done now apart from that new weevil you left in the fridge, but we are looking at extensive trauma to the bodies that aside, I'd like to get a look at the fucker so we can see what we are dealing with. It may be shielded because it can't breathe our air..."

"Then that would mean it was likely to have a ship somewhere close by." Tosh interrupted.

Jack nodded. "Ok Tosh, continuous city wide scans, every bandwidth and frequency you can think of, scan for everything and anything see if that comes up with something."

"Alright, that's going to be a lot of data to process Jack, I'll need the back up server."

"That's fine Tosh, do what you have to."

Gwen sat at the steering wheel and adjusted the position of the seat before keying the ignition.

"So er... Jack's clothes then?" She queried faux innocently.

Ianto could only roll his eyes in response. "I got wet last night bringing that weevil in, so can we drop by my flat first so I can change?"

"Of course love." She smiled. "Though I wouldn't recommend a suit judging from the last mess we had to examine."

Ianto half wondered where she was going with this conversation.

"Those cargo shorts were nice, have you got another pair of those?"

Ianto did a double take. "I'll do what I can do for you, shall I?"

Gwen was grinning and Ianto smiled too.

The smiles were soon wiped from both of their faces as they inspected the grisly crime scene with clenched stomachs. By the time they had returned to the Hub they were silent and somewhat shocked. Jack took them both to the boardroom and Owen went to fetch them both glasses of water. It was Gwen who recovered herself first.

"We really have to find this thing Jack. It killed children."

It was clear she was struggling to maintain her composure. "It was like the last one, the bodies gutted and skinned, but they were left lying around and I got the impression it had been interrupted mid gutting. One of the bodies was almost intact, we brought that one back with us, the rest have been left for the police to identify. I thought that would be best."

Jack nodded. "Yes. It'll give the police something to do without bogging us down in the minor details. I'm sure they know full well not to disclose cause of death."

"I discussed this with Swanson, and the police have decided to take the serial killer route and are keeping the whole thing as low key as possible, but with child victims Jack..." She trailed off.

He nodded, understanding and turned to Ianto. "Ianto, anything you want to add?"

The pale faced younger man looked thoroughly sick. "There's a case full of samples in the SUV along with the body. I felt uncomfortable Jack, like with the weevil yesterday, the feeling of being watched. I did a quick sweep with the PDA and nothing showed up." He shakily placed his glass of water on the table. "Now if you don't mind I really need to go to the bathroom." He rose unsteadily to his feet and then dropped like a stone to the floor in a faint. Owen, Jack and Gwen were out of their chairs in an instant but Owen waved his colleagues back.

"Give him some space."

Ianto groaned back into consciousness and promptly vomited.

"Oh lovely, Tea Boy. Come let's have you down on the sofa to rest."

Owen cooed and Ianto sat up and blinked at him... "Sorry."

Owen shook his head. "It's the heat mate, don't worry about it, let's get you hydrated and cooled off."

Ianto slowly nodded and was hoisted to his feet by Jack who then deftly picked him up and carried him to the couch. It was a testament to how ill Ianto felt because he merely lolled his head into Jack's shoulder. Owen trotted down to the autopsy bay to prepare an IV kit and Tosh having seen the commotion moved the fan from her desk to a position by the sofa. Jack carefully lay Ianto down and then flapped his arms at the girls.

"He's ok. Gwen, go get a shower and freshen up, cool off and make sure you have Owen check you over first."

Gwen nodded and stepped back towards Owen's domain and Tosh returned to her desk, glancing over her shoulder as she watched Jack undo the buttons on Ianto's shirt and remove the belt from his trousers. Owen was there a moment later to assist in getting Ianto settled. Ianto had fallen asleep by this point.

"Heat stroke?"

Owen nodded. "Probably, he's Welsh, most likely the first year he's ever seen the sun... seriously I suspect he hasn't been drinking enough and if he's been a Hazmat suit most of the day... Well you know. He's probably a bit squeamish too... I mean I would be as well if I had to deal with that."

Jack couldn't argue the point and when Owen was done he gently ruffled Ianto's hair as he slept.

"Don't worry Jack, he'll be alright. It's not serious, just need to keep him out of the field for a couple of days. Just pat him down with a cool damp flannel for a bit and the IV and fan should do the rest."

Owen did a thorough exam anyway, such things were always easier when Ianto was asleep, especially when he got the needles out.


End file.
